Phytochemical analysis of the ethanolic extract of Agathis robusta (C. Moore ex F. Muell.) F.M. Bailey

Agathis robusta (C. Moore ex F. Muell.) F. M. Bailey (syn. Dammara robusta C. Moore ex F. Muell.) is a coniferous tree belonging to the Araucariaceae family1. It is principally known with the common names of Kauri pine and represents one of the most ancient trees that still inhabit this world2 even if its presence is now limited to only a few nations of the Southern Hemisphere1,2. This work reports the phytochemical analysis of the ethanolic extract obtained from the leaves of this species collected in early June 2015 from a living tree growing in the Botanical Garden of the University of Rome "La Sapienza". The analysis was carried out by means of Column Chromatography, NMR and MS evidencing the presence of six compounds such as agathisflavone (1), 7-O-methyl-agathisflavone (2), cupressuflavone (3), rutin (4), shikimic acid (5) and (2S)-1,2-di- O-[(9Z,12Z,15Z)-octadeca-9,12,15-trienoyl]-3-O--D-galactopyranosyl-glycerol (6)3. To the best of our knowledge, compounds (3-6) were identified for the first time in this study as constituents of A. robusta. Anyway the presence of the majority of the identified components is fully in accordance with the current botanical classification of the species since chemotaxonomic parallelisms with other species of the genus were clearly detected as well as intra-family chemosystematic relations3. In addition, all the evidenced compounds present several medicinal properties among which the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antineoplastic, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial, antiallergic and antifungal ones are the most important and may explain why this species has been widely used in the ethnopharmacological field.